One of the necessary skills used in playing the game of volleyball is spiking. Spiking involves one player projecting the volleyball into the air and a team member striking the elevated ball forwards and downwards with the object of causing the volleyball to strike the floor on the opposing team's side of the net. Generally, spiking involves running towards an elevated volleyball, jumping up towards the volleyball, and striking the volleyball somewhat above its center of gravity. It is emphasized that the skill of spiking involves imparting significant forward and downward momentum to a volleyball by a player who is moving both vertically and horizontally. The skill of spiking a volleyball is not merely one of jumping up and hitting a volleyball. The skill of spiking a volleyball is quite distinct from those skills employed in other ball games such as basketball where the ball is either thrown or deflected. The conventional method of practicing this skill is to have one person project a volleyball (called "setting") and to have a second person spike the volleyball over the net. The conventional method is time consuming in that cooperation and coordination between two or more persons is required (only one of whom can practice spiking), and significant time and effort must be expended to recover the volleyballs after they have been spiked.
It is known in the somewhat related art of basketball practice devices to suspend a basketball in the air for the practicing of jumping skills as they relate to playing basketball. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,697,603 and 4,621,811 disclose such devices and their expected use in practicing the basically vertical jumping and tapping skill used in the game of basketball. Such devices are inappropriate and ineffective as devices for practicing the spiking of volleyballs as the striking required by the spiking of a volleyball would cause undesirable wild and sustained oscillations of the ball or the wrapping of the ball's tether rope around its support. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 2,697,603 discloses such a short stiff tether that one practicing spiking is likely occasionally to strike the supporting arm and experience an unrealistic feel when striking the ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,925 discloses a jump training device comprising a ball tethered 12 inches below a pair of vertical or slightly inclined beat boards. It is further disclosed that the device is intended for the rhythmic practice of vertical jumping and striking of a ball. The intentional underdamped action of the ball make this type of device undesirable for the practice of spiking as it is described above.
A need remains in the art of devices for the practice of the spiking of a volleyball for a device that suspends a volleyball in such a manner that the volleyball will be returned quickly to rest after being spiked while giving reasonable safety to the player and providing a realistic feel.